FREETOWN, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed Special Court rejected the appeals of three former rebel commanders on Monday, upholding jail terms of up to 52 years imposed for crimes during the country's 1991-2002 civil war. Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, the most senior surviving members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), whose uprising sparked the conflict, were sentenced in April after earlier being found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their convictions included recruiting child soldiers, attacks on peacekeepers and forced marriages. The dismissal of the appeal leaves Charles Taylor, the former president of neighbouring Liberia, as the only remaining indictee of the Freetown-based court. Taylor, whose trial is being held in The Hague for security reasons, is accused of stoking Sierra Leone's conflict in exchange for diamonds from the east of the country. (Reporting by Christo Johnson; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
Shopkeeper Ali Lamie stands beside mobile phones charging from a single generator in his small store in Tintafor, 20 km (12.5 miles) north of Sierra Leones capital Freetown, September 17, 2009, ...
